1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solar reflectors, and more particularly to a system for asynchronous remote steering of solar reflectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solar radiation is conceived as a renewable source of energy that is free, abundant and spatially distributed. Since solar radiation is not sufficiently concentrated, many optical methods of concentrating solar energy have been proposed. Some of the large scale concentration methods (e.g. solar thermal power plants) rely on flat surfaces that track the sun's position to reflect the direct component toward a designated target. The cost of this technology is proportional to the number of reflectors, as each reflector requires two rotating motors and two tilt sensors.
The solar reflectors should be arranged in rows and should be steered so that the reflected light from all the reflectors results in a focal point, concentrating the solar energy in a small area to do thermal/electric work.
While it seems logical to have a dedicated couple of motors per reflectors, the economic sense is against it. One way is to enlarge the reflecting area per the rotation mechanism. However, there is a limit, and often the area of a reflector should be small to simulate a concave reflector in some applications. This entails having two motors and two sensors per reflector, as there are two steered rotations required.
Thus, a system for asynchronous remote steering of reflectors solving the aforementioned problems is desired.